Famous Ankles

Archive for 2008

2008 New York City Pet Parade on the West Side

October 18, 2008

I had never been to the NYC Pet Parade and I decided it was time to go. I saw the announcement and thought that it gave me a chance to enjoy something a little different. You see, I didn’t have high expectations for it as I already understood it isn’t a “parade” in the sense of marching down the street. Instead, it’s much more in the vein of the NYC Easter Parade which is more of a large gathering of people (in that case, with interesting hats).

The parade was held on the far west side. Actually, on Pier 84 right on the Hudson River. That’s at about the 44th Street level which puts it mid-town. The announcement said from 1 to 4pm. I got there a little before 1pm and didn’t see much action. At 1pm, I took the following picture of the gathering. I was way too early, but that’s part of my nature.

The parade is for all pets. Got a tarantula? A ferret? Snake? All supposedly welcome. The only pets I ever saw were dogs, though. It was cool (high 40s with some wind) and I doubt the snakes and tarantulas would have enjoyed it. Nor the cats, I imagine.

The next dog also wasn’t too happy. The owners would put the halo on him/her for pictures, but the dog would shake it off as quickly as he/she could. Hey, I would too.

The next dog was pretty popular. Pirate dog! Arghh!

NYC is a land of small dogs. Little ‘uns that don’t need too much picking up after (yeah, they enforce that). It also is a land where the owners love, just love, to dress up their dogs. This little happy gathering included one I never would have expected, a lobster-dog. Two of the others were pretty conventional sweater/collared dogs. The dog in the t-shirt is one I knew would be there: Obama t-shirt dog. It’s NYC, a political dog is par for the course. I’m sure he’s old enough to vote…at least in dog years.

I couldn’t resist this next picture. I like small dogs (and large ones, too), but the next picture shows what I consider as “fake bravery dog”. Look at the guy’s jacket and you can see a second head. That little dog never stopped barking it seemed.

As I was leaving, I ran into a few later-arrivers (it was still early, though). Just a couple of more small dogs here.

And then there was this last one. In terms of parade-quality, this one was top-notch. Yes, it’s dog in a Wonder Woman outfit. The effect was very interesting to see the dog with fake arms and all.

But that wasn’t even the most interesting part of that dog. Look closely and you’ll see it’s a Chow. This wasn’t a particularly happy Chow, either. Chows are fighting dogs and this was an unhappy fighting dog. The owner had just strapped on the outfit and maybe the dog was just out of sorts about it and didn’t want the other dogs to see her like that. She didn’t snap at me or anything, but I got one of those feelings of “just a little bit closer so I can taste those famous ankles!” A bit of an exaggeration. The dog looked great and the owner was friendly. I just had the impression of an unhappy dog.

I left after less than an hour. The parade was probably just starting to get cranked up. I hope hundreds more showed up.

-H

Categories: Uncategorized

Comments: 3 Comments

Sorry about the lack of posts…

October 6, 2008

I started Famous Ankles in July 2007 as a way to communicate with family and friends and to detail what I kept seeing in NYC. Then, in August 2007 I started to post daily and after a while…well, it got to be a habit. Unfortunately, I kept seeing mileposts along the way. Two months of daily posts, three, four… Eventually, I started thinking about hitting the one year mark of daily posts. And I made it. However, the last three or four months of the run were pretty wearing on me and I’ve decided to take a bit of a break.

I will start posting again soon. I’ve been trying to think of ways to make it a little more fresh and interesting. So far, the ideas just aren’t working out. Strangely enough, I do have materials for posts as I still take some pictures but it just seems like variations on posts that I’ve done before. I could just post the pictures, but I really hate putting in a picture without context. A picture without a story is just somebody else’s picture. It can be interesting, it can be terrific; but I don’t think my photographic skills are able to carry the post unaided. Besides, I like to have the context and the story. I just want to make it interesting for me to detail what I’m seeing and hopefully convey that joy to my readers.

So, in the meantime feel free to enjoy the blog. I purposely fashioned it so that almost any part can be read without worrying too much whether it is outdated. The events I’ve covered like parades are actually just moments captured and preserved. As they should be, at least in my opinion.

I’ll post on occasion.

-H

Categories: Uncategorized

Comments: 7 Comments

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City 2008

September 7, 2008

Well, it’s September, it’s NYC, and the supermodels are wandering about. It must be Fashion Week.

I have to admit that I’m not particularly thrilled by the whole concept of Fashion Week, but I figure that the well-dressed must have some place to go to; so why not wander around Bryant Park for a week or so.

Yesterday, I wandered by there and found the set ups in place with all the requisite security and people with clipboards noting who to let in. I haven’t checked, but I guarantee that Famous Ankles isn’t on the “send him right on in” list. Last year, I did spend a few minutes waiting around looking for models, but it left me feeling a little…absurd. I hadn’t planned on doing anything for Fashion Week this year, but had taken two pictures of the initial setup. Here’s the better of the two. (Note, it’s Saturday morning around 9am and there’s nary a supermodel in sight.)

So, today I was coming back from Church and I saw crowds gathering. I had my camera and thought that maybe, just maybe, there would be something to see. I didn’t really expect anything. New Yorkers are very much gawkers and it was only noonish.

I was wrong. There was something to see! There was a protest. A pretty fun protest. A pretty weird protest against pretty people wearing fur. I love the sign: Vanity Sucks. If they didn’t have all these very pretty girls passing out literature on their behalf (and, yes, they were very pretty girls) I might have taken them a little more seriously.

That’s not true, either. I don’t take people in bunny suits seriously. Although I do like the simulated blood. (I see dead rabbits. They’re everywhere!)

They were really protesting DKNY. The group, NYC Animal Rights, was nice and loud; and had obviously put a lot of work into their preparations. Good for them. I love a good incoherent protest. It makes me feel all nice and warm. (I don’t know if they’re associated with PETA or acting with PETA or what-not.)

And they were pretty incoherent/unreasonable on so very many levels. I thought I had a picture of my favorite protest sign, but didn’t catch it. It said “Real designers don’t kill animals.” That sort of statement just boggles my mind. I kept going back and thinking of designers that aren’t fashion-oriented. For example, the designers of the skinning knives and stuff like that. Yeah, it’s a reach, but my mind was just rocked by the idea that this group only thinks of design in fashion terms.

And, of course, I kept thinking of leather belts, shoes, etc. that all but the most diehard of the animal rights people still use. And, mostly, why the writer of that particular sign would imagine there’s a connection between fashion design and non-cruelty towards animals. But, I also just kept thinking that the members of the group were being…well, fashionable in their protest. Nice costumes. Protesting against cruelty (where or where is the group in favor of cruelty I always ask). Situating themselves very well for drawing attention. And they had about 10 or 15 very attractive young women passing out literature. I remember thinking they were very nicely dressed.

I admit that I have never watched an episode of Project Runway. It’s just not something that I have an interest in watching although I know people who swear it is actually an intellectual endeavor that shows how people are forced to extend their creative juices in all sorts of interesting directions, fashionwise. But I promise I’d probably watch if they were to have an episode where the cast had to slaughter, skin, tan, and sew the skins of animals into clothing for supermodels (or just ordinary models).

Lastly, I have to admit having an urge at the sight of them and their protest. I wanted to break out into song. You know, of course, that there’s only one appropriate song. Yep, it’s “Kill the Wabbit” from Merrie Melodies’ “What’s Opera, Doc?”.

Yeah, it would have been way too over the top and let them interpret it as a threat or something rather than a meat-eater’s humorous poke at their protest. (What do you wanna bet they wouldn’t have shown any sense of humor at it?)

-H

Categories: Events, Manhattan, Mid-town, Wanderings

Comments: Be the first to comment

2008 Pakistan Day Parade in New York City

August 24, 2008

On my way to Church on Sunday, I discovered that Madison Avenue had up the barricades for a parade. I hadn’t looked to see if any were scheduled, so I didn’t know who it was. I talked with a cop and he told me it was the Pakistan Day Parade and would be held at noon.

That made me pretty happy. The Pakistan Day Parade is one of my favorites and last year’s post on it is actually one of the most popular posts I have on this blog.

So, when I left Church, I didn’t bother going home, but showed up on Madison and 38th at about 11:30. I talked with another cop and he said it would be at noon.

And then I got disappointed. Noon came and went. The parade route had cars going north on it unimpeded by the police officers stationed at every corner. I could hear the bands warming up! I figured it was actually a late start or maybe a 12:30 parade. Finally, another cop walked by and I asked and he told me 1pm. It wasn’t worth leaving at that point and I did want to see the parade. So, I waited. Amazingly, at 12:45 I was the only person on my block waiting for the parade. A number of obviously Pakistani people went by (you could recognize them because they all seemed to have flags) but they were heading to the block or two north of me close to the very beginning of the parade.

Promptly at 1pm, the parade started. My block had a few more people, but not many. I looked in vain for the family that I had seen last year and the man who had proved to be the biggest hit of the parade. No luck.

First, came the cops on horses and then the dignitaries came. There was a bunch of ’em.

This year’s parade was a lot more political than last year’s. Well, it is an election year. I’ve seen this same limo for the candidate before.

There were a couple of marching bands, but the Pakistanis really like to come in floats and virtually every one I saw was jammed. The guy at the front right of the float below was one of the parade highlights. You can’t see the movements, but he was very animated and having fun.

Like most national day parades, there were flags everywhere. As usual, most of the flags were of the originating country, but there were a lot of American flags, too. SM&B Construction’s float had a visual that I really liked.

I didn’t understand the next float. It had the name of Dr. Muhammad M. Haque from the Department of Immigration. I don’t know if it was a float he sponsored or one he is memorialized on. I presume the latter.

The next float was pretty cool. It was a celebration of the American International School System in Pakistan and noted how there are schools throughout Pakistan that use American connections and techniques and supplies to further their education. I gotta support that.

My personal highlight of the parade is something new this year: beauty queens. They are a staple of most parades, but I don’t recall seeing any in other parades so closely associated with Islam. All beauty queens are automatically pictured in Famous Ankles. So here you go, thanks to Wholesale Building Supply.

Last year’s parade was a pretty quiet affair. This year, lots and lots of music. I wouldn’t say this was the loudest, but it was one of the best. One of the DJ’s at the back was dancing in time with the music and it was pretty well done.

Finally, there was this next float. Apparently, it is a limo service.

Okay, why is this one of my favorite parades? It doesn’t even have the “big flag” and only a couple of beauty queens; what’s so great? The answer last year was the “Dad” character and the fact that the entire parade; the whole parade; from beginning to end was about 18 minutes long. This is a town where a two-hour parade is typical and I’ve left one parade after more than four hours while it was still going on!

This year’s parade was much longer than last year’s. It hit the 29 minute mark. Well done and a happy 61st independence day for Pakistan.

-H

Categories: Events, Manhattan, Mid-town, Parades, Wanderings

Comments: 3 Comments

New York City from the water at night

August 19, 2008

Ah, yes. My third and final posting about my June cruise around most of Manhattan. Part one detailed the late afternoon views; part two detailed the twilight views.

So, that makes this the evening post. And to start it off, here’s the tippy-tippy-southern-tip of Manhattan…seen from a few hundred yards further south. I even caught a couple of other boats in the picture.

At this point, we entered the East River side. Yeah, you can name this bridge despite the poor lighting. Yup, it’s the Brooklyn Bridge.

You’ll notice that these pictures are just a bit more unfocused than usual. Blame the poor light and the choppy water (and maybe, just a little, the photographer). Nevertheless, this next picture of the Manhattan Bridge [corrected] just couldn’t be left out of the posting. The angle is everything.

As we went up the East River, I saw a couple of buildings way in the distance that had some odd lighting about it. I photographed it a bunch of times, but the only one I’ll put up is the next picture. This is about as close as we got. The neat thing about these is that the lights and their colors were slowly changing. Just slow enough that I seldom caught them in transition. That’s what made it so good. I’m sure they’re famous, but I haven’t any idea as to what and why they are the way they are. The buildings are in Brooklyn, not Manhattan.

For the next picture, we were heading back south and could see the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. There are three major bridges in southern Manhattan. Easily remembered for their names and position: BMW. Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg. Williamsburg is the furthest north.

At the time of the next picture, the sunlight had well and truly faded away. It left only the light of the City to picture. I’ve done the cruise before and sights like this always make me a little awed.